1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article managing apparatus for managing article such as consumables for printing apparatuses in a print system including an arbitrary number of printing apparatuses.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there are many use forms of a printing apparatus as a print system in which one or a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected to a network and shared by a host apparatus connected to the same network. However, those printing apparatuses are not always disposed near the user. Therefore, a consumables management system for concentratedly perform stock management, ordering work, and the like of consumables (hereinafter, limited to the consumables for the printing apparatuses) is necessary.
In the conventional consumables management system, an article managing apparatus which serves as a consumables managing apparatus, for example, once per day, inquires of the printing apparatus (in the network) as a management target about a residual amount of the consumables. If it is determined as a result of the inquiry that the residual amount of the consumables is small, such a measure that a warning is generated to the user from the article managing apparatus, the managing apparatus collects notifications performed for a predetermined period of time and executes the ordering work, or the like is taken. A technique for accurately extracting an actual working history of the printing apparatus serving as fundamentals of those techniques or the like has also been opened (for example, refer to Abstract of JP-A-6-24102).
It is a problem to be solved that in print systems equipped in organizations such as enterprises, government and municipal offices, and the like in which a budget has been allocated every division, there is a risk that if the managing apparatus automatically executes the ordering work of consumables, the budget exceeds a budget limit allocated to the consumables in the overall budget.